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The Historical Archives is the official record keeper of the European Parliament. It manages and preserves the Parliament's official public documents and other archival fonds, dating back to 1952. It also assists researchers on the history of the Parliament and European integration, publishes studies and articles on these subjects, and works closely with the EU Historical Archives at the European University Institute and the House of European History.

Round table: “40 years since the first European elections: the making of a new institution”

The Historical Archives of the European Parliament from the European Parliamentary Research Service (DG EPRS) together with the Former Member's Association (FMA) and the European University Institute (EUI) organised on 03 April 2019 a round table on the development of the European Parliament as a new institution following the first direct election by universal suffrage in 1979.

The round table brought together in a first panel researchers who have written substantial studies of different aspects of the European Parliament's role and development during the first two legislatures as directly elected Parliament: Professors Birte Wassenberg, Wolfram Kaiser, and Laurent Warlouzet.

A second panel, included actors in the making of the new institution: former European Parliament Presidents Hans-Gert Pöttering, Enrique Barón Crespo, Pat Cox, and Klaus Hänsch, and former Vice President Charlotte Cederschiöld. Each of these former Members of the European Parliament made statements in support of the European Parliament ahead of the elections.

It happened in the EP

On 24 and 25 September 1959, in response to the European Communities' changing external relations, the European Parliamentary Assembly notes that the creation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) by seven countries (United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Portugal) is conducive to an agreement being concluded between 'the Six' and 'the Seven'.